


Equivalent Exchange

by lunaseemoony



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Major Illness, Romance, Sacrifice, Sad with a Happy Ending, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 04:42:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7787203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaseemoony/pseuds/lunaseemoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a devastating accident at Torchwood, Rose finds herself knocking on death's door. With no choices left, somebody makes the most difficult decision to save her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Equivalent Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> On tumblr somebody asked me (intending for it to be a headcanon) what the metacrisis Doctor would do if Rose was _really_ , _seriously_ ill. This was my answer. 
> 
> I'm issuing a tissue warning for this, and _please_ tread lightly.

“I’m sorry, we’ve tried everything we could. The venom is working too fast. Her systems are shutting down,” Rose’s doctor croaked outside the Torchwood infirmary. 

The Doctor’s blood drained from his face even as denial kicked his adrenaline into overdrive, making him a dizzy beehive. Books would have you believing your heart would stop hearing news like this. The Doctor’s heart beat was a bullet train racing way ahead of him towards the salvation he was being denied. 

“No you don’t. No! This is why you should’ve let _me_  care for her. I refuse to give up!” the Doctor snarled, tempest contained only by Rose’s trembling brother fastened to his leg. “We can make an antivenom! Transplants. I’d give her my own kidney if we were a match.”

“We haven’t got the time for either. She’s not strong enough for surgery.” He was talking about his boss, essentially, holding himself together with a thread. “She’s got hours.”

“No. You look me right in the eye and tell me you’re giving up so I can step in and do it properly!”

“Doctor,” Pete entreated, wrapping his arm around the Doctor’s to rein him in. His mind was on Rose resting peacefully in her infirmary bed. It was a farce. There was no peace in this. “That’s enough.”

The Doctor yanked his arm away. “Is that what you told her when she was working herself into the ground to get the dimension cannon working? Hmm? Did you tell her to give up when it was impossible, when _I_ thought it was impossible?“

He wasted the next several minutes arguing with Pete, Jackie, and Rose’s doctor. Rose’s condition escalated too quickly for them to process. He believed they did their best, but for the woman that burst through the Void it’d never be enough. The Doctor tore out of Torchwood and sped home, breaking at least a few laws in his race against time and realms of possibility. Rose Tyler had saved the universe several times over, and what had it done for her? It poisoned her, threatened to rip her from their forever permanently. It was an injustice he wouldn’t tolerate. The possibility of enduring the slow human life without his other half suffocated him. Rose was his first and only light in this universe, her smile and laugh were the only warmth he needed. He couldn’t do without them. He wouldn’t. He refused. 

Someone might be thinking what the Doctor was about to do was a difficult decision. It truly was not. Doing whatever he could to save Rose would never be a difficult decision. It never was for Rose, it never would be for the Doctor. 

Still, he knelt before the console with tears prickling his eyes. She was still so little and so young, barely able to fly, let alone take them anywhere. She was their pride and joy. The Doctor crumpled on the grating in front of her panel as it opened. Her answer was yes, she too would do anything to save Rose. There was no way to put the shared realization between them to words. Even if they could they wouldn’t. She was strong enough to help, that was what was important at that moment. Once she heard his pleas there was no turning back. She took over and did not what she needed to do, but what could be done. 

Rose’s infirmary room came to life with the familiar whirring and wheezing of the TARDIS’s engines landing. Her doors flew open and cloaked the white room in gold. Her heart reached out to Rose, bathing her in the Doctor’s last hope. When the blinding light retreated, the Doctor stood in front of Rose’s bed as she sat up, bewildered. Jump-started, she only needed a moment to process what had happened. Against wishes, she unhooked herself and dashed into the TARDIS, finding it dark and lifeless. She had grown just enough to help, but was not strong enough to survive the sacrifice she’d made.

 

What would the Doctor do if Rose was seriously sick? He would do anything, whatever it takes, no matter the cost. Not just because she’d do the same for him or because she had, but because he _could_. He’d refuse to give up on the one person who’d always refuse to. She learned it from him first, and then she taught him right back to do the same. 


End file.
